Closure fears for after-school club

Parents from a village near Shrewsbury are in a desperate search for a qualified person to run their after-school club, which is in danger of closing.

Unless someone comes forward, 11 pupils at Stiperstones Primary School will have no-one to look after them until their parents come home from work. The school governors have agreed to a temporary closure.

Jo Jackson, chairman of the pre-school governors, said: "We have someone to run the pre-school club but cannot find anyone to run the after-school club following the retirement of the previous person.

"The governors had an extraordinary meeting to discuss the crisis on Tuesday night and voted reluctantly for a temporary shutdown of the after-school club.

"The head teacher is currently staying on to look after the children but this means remaining at school until at least 5pm and that situation can't continue.

"We are really getting desperate and just hope someone will come forward to prevent us closing permanently."

The pre and after-school clubs are attached to the primary school and have about 11 children making regular use of them.

The after-school club numbers vary depending on parents' work patterns.

Ailsa Hall, who has run the after school club for eight years, is retiring at the end of the school term so the new role would be available from January.

She said one person had expressed an interest in the post but they are not qualified so they are looking for someone with an NVQ Level Three in child-minding to step into the role temporarily while the other person qualifies.

She said: "I've enjoyed running the after school club. It's been very rewarding working with the children, it's a super job which I would recommend it to anyone who wants to work with children."